Last year, after a trip to Myrtle Beach with a friend, we detoured by Wilmington, North Carolina, on the way back and I had the most wonderful dish at a restaurant right on the water. I can’t remember what they called it, but it was basically strips of french bread pizza with olive oil, shrimp, peppers, and cheese. It was soooo delicious. I’ve been making french bread pizza for a long time, but I’d never made it with quite that combination before and I just loved it. Since then, it’s really become one of my favorite comfort foods.Now because I am such a bread-baking fanatic, I have to go on for a moment about the wonders of fresh-baked homemade french bread and how nothing can compare. I just wouldn’t be me if I didn’t say that and then you’d all be saying, “SUZANNE, what is wrong with you?” and you’d be disappointed. And of course it’s true and it’s so easy to make homemade bread and it’s soooo good.

But, I want to say that if you can’t, just can’t, bring yourself to make homemade french bread, you can buy some french bread and still make this recipe. And I won’t think anything bad about you, I promise.

I’m not going to give specific quantities here because it all depends on how many different ingredients you’re adding and how many loaves of french bread you’re using (not to mention the size of the loaves). On this occasion, I made three loaves of french bread. I have big kids who are big eaters! And they love french bread pizza. I started out by frying peppered bacon. When that was ready, I set it aside to drain while I sauteed some chopped onions, then drained that as well and sauteed some medium-sized shrimp. I cooked the shrimp a pretty good while to let it soak up the bacon and onion juices and develop a nice golden glaze.

Next, slice the french bread loaves in half horizontally. Drizzle olive oil and spread with a spoon or fork to get an even coverage. I like to sprinkle on some garlic powder at this point. Yum! Garlic gets me all excited….

Add shredded swiss cheese first, then layer on the onion, bacon, and shrimp. I wasn’t using any peppers this time, so I thought it needed some decorating. I threw on some dried chives for fun. Now bake in a 375-degree oven for about 15 minutes, slice into handy pieces, and you have a fabulously easy meal that looks and tastes like it came from a gourmet restaurant!

I like this in so many combinations. Mushroom, onion, and swiss. Bacon, onion, and swiss. Sausage. Ground beef. Peppers. (Notice I really love swiss cheese….but any cheese that is your favorite works, too.) For a different take, use a tomato-based sauce and make a more traditional french bread pizza with pepperoni slices and mozzarella. It’s all good! I could eat it every day, with Chocolate Lava Cakes for dessert! (Speaking of comfort food!! CHOCOLATE LAVA CAKES.)

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Comments

I want to come over for lunch. I’ll even help you pack, clear clutter, whatever. (Note: I excel at clearing out clutter. I love to do it and am merciless.)

Suzanne, have you thought about publishing a cookbook? I know others have suggested this. If not in print, what about an e-cookbook, in PDF, for a “nominal” fee? (I’m trying to think of ways you can make money here. LOL.)

Chicken Paprikas!!!! A Czechoslovak meal which is basically chicken and dumplings with paprika and sour cream. It is SOOOOOOOO delish!!! Besides my father, I’m the only one left who knows how to make it. My relatives would request this dish when they visited. I can taste it right now! LOL!! You’re making me hungry again!!!!! :purr:

Wow!! That looks so good! You, and you alone, have rescued me from my fear of baking. I have made your French Bread, Italian style, 2-3 times a week! I have never made bread before because I couldn’t even make cookies without something going wrong. My girls ages 7 and 9 even made 2 loaves a piece with me just supervising. Your recipes are so simple and so good. I cannot wait to try this one. Thank you!!

That’s so neat to hear about your daughters making bread! I have taught my daughter to make bread, too, and I think it’s just a neat thing to do with kids. And a neat thing about this particular recipe, especially with kids who can be picky sometimes, is that everybody can fix their own toppings. My daughter doesn’t like onions, so she always leaves the onions off her piece.

Two blogs in a row talking about food – I’m soooo hungry now! If I had to pick one food it’s pizza – I love all pizza (anchovies too) and yours looks fantastic. Again it’s something I used to make and now I’ve gotten lazy and buy take out :fryingpan:

Looks DIVINE..YUM…being as I hate to cook, I appreciate all the effort that goes into it…I don’t see HOW you do all that you do, with the farm, children AND cooking and baking. Wow..wish I had your zeal and energy. LOL But, I guess it is not hard to do what you love to do…for some reason, I HATE rolling things out…be it cookies, biscuits or anything…but I do…it’s worth the effort.

Hi!,Jusy wanted to let U know I Love ur site,hope i can come here again! I love ur recipe and as a Cajun girl I know it’ll be good.when u have time can you tell me where I can get these adorable little emoticons to add to my web pages? (I have a son N the Navy & would like to use them in my emails)Thanks Kat & God Bless!

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"It was a cold wintry day when I brought my children to live in rural West Virginia. The farmhouse was one hundred years old, there was already snow on the ground, and the heat was sparse-—as was the insulation. The floors weren’t even, either. My then-twelve-year-old son walked in the door and said, “You’ve brought us to this slanted little house to die."Keep reading our story....

I ordered pepperoni rolls last year for a friend's birthday and they werea big hit! mgwolson on The Pepperoni Roll Rush

This is an excellent recipe, and I made these this evening. Its not mentioned here explicitly, but I heated my oil to about 325 deg F before adding the hush puppies. I then fried them about 2 minutes before flipping them over for another 2 minutes until they were a proper brown color. The crispiness of these hush puppies are unmatched and I would recommend this recipe to anyone.Bobby Hill on Hush Puppy Heaven

I really miss your posts Suzanne. I hope everything is ok with you and yours. Would love to see an update. Louise in AlabamaLouise on Camper Makeover: The Auction

I legitimately just registered for this page just so I could leave a comment! So happy to find this recipe. My father just handed over his grandmother’s hand written recipe, missing crucial instructions, for her burnt sugar cake for me to try to bake for him. I also cruised through Pinterest to see if I could find one similar in order to get a better idea of how to do it. Yours is the first out of many that called for separating the eggs and folding in the beaten whites and also the specific use of the same syrup pan to make the icing!. I will use my great grandma’s measurements and your instructions. Thanks so much - really excited to try it out now!.amyndietz on Old-Time Burnt Sugar Cake

Reading this post makes my mouth water.This was a family favorite when my grandmother was alive. The rule in her kitchen was the sugar needs to smoke-- so yes, we literally burn it... and keep a close eye on it. I'm inspired to include this in our staff baking contest tomorrow. Off to the kitchen!! Sheriwood on Old-Time Burnt Sugar Cake